


I'll Take You Far Away

by nationalnobody



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Bus Ride AU, Cashton, Cuddles, First Date, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 10:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2106780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nationalnobody/pseuds/nationalnobody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Calum decided to sit next to the blonde, or as he preferred, drummer boy it was because of his Nirvana shirt. That and partly because everybody on the bus looked like druggies or something of the sort and that kind of scared Calum.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Take You Far Away

**Author's Note:**

> Calum and Ashton don't know each other's names till nearing the end of the fic. I like how this turned out.

It wasn’t as if Calum actually liked the incredibly attractive curly-haired blonde sitting beside him, _no,_ of course he didn’t! That would be ridiculous. _Utterly_ ridiculous…

He still hadn’t gotten the other boy’s number even though they’d been sitting next to each other on the bus for over a month straight.

The first time Calum decided to sit next to the blonde, or as he preferred, _drummer boy_ it was because of his Nirvana shirt. That and partly because everybody on the bus looked like druggies or something of the sort and that kind of scared Calum.

The only conversations they had were small, consisting of a greeting, some variation of ‘how are you’ and a goodbye. Occasionally, if Calum was lucky, drummer boy would spark up a conversation.

In fact, that was how he found out the blonde could drum and God if Calum had a crush on him before, after that conversation everything just went to Hell.

He was fucking head over heels for a boy he barely knew.

Sometimes drummer boy would speak about the weirdest things but Calum would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy every second of it and sometimes, it was actually only six times, drummer boy would cuddle up to Calum’s side or vice versa and it was the best thing on Earth.

Calum realised one day, as he stood waiting at the bus stop, that his crush on the blonde was really getting out of hand. For instance, there was no need for him to catch the bus today but he did it for the sole purpose of seeing his drummer boy.

 _‘Mine? Calm down yeah, he’s not yours.’_ Calum chided himself.

He knows it’s stupid, he’s aware. The oddest thing of all was probably the fact that he and drummer boy had never exchanged names. He thinks they just never deemed it necessary. Calum often wishes he knew the other’s name.

The bus soon arrived and Calum boarded it, scanning his card before heading over to where drummer boy was seated.

“Hey.” He greeted, smiling at the other boy.

“Why hello there!” The blonde replied, dimples visible as he smiled back. Just like the first hundred times drummer boy had smiled; Calum’s heart, without fail, stopped for a moment as he stared at the blonde.

“How’ve you been?” Drummer boy asked, passing an earphone to Calum when he realised the other boy didn’t have his with him today.

“I’ve been okay, just having some troubling thoughts is all…” The Kiwi said, popping the earphone in whilst mumbling a small ‘thanks’ as he did.

He smiled softly when he realised the song that was currently playing was by Green Day.

“You can talk to me if you want. I won’t judge or anything, promise.” Drummer boy was so considerate and kind and Calum just wanted to punch him in the face.

“It’s about a boy…” Calum mumbled, colour rising to his cheeks faster than lightning hitting a tree.

“Boy troubles ay? I’m glad.” Drummer boy said in turn as he glanced out the window.

Calum’s breath hitched, did that mean the blonde was into guys? Did that mean he had a sliver of a chance? _Please let it be_ , he chanted over and over in his head like a mantra.

“Wha..?” He finally bumbled. It seemed that words were evading him.

Suddenly drummer boy pressed the ‘stop’ button on the bus and stood to his feet, earphone falling out of his ear and into Calum’s lap. He pulled Calum to his feet, “Let’s go get some cupcakes.”

Calum only nodded in response, not really processing what was going on. Had drummer boy really decided to take him on a _date_ at this very moment?

Drummer boy led the two of them to a small bakery where they ordered their cupcakes, Calum deciding on chocolate while the blonde opted for red velvet. Meanwhile Calum was still in shock, Hell he didn’t even know what town he was in right now.

He was hoping drummer boy knew otherwise they’d been in for a lot of trouble. As cute as drummer boy’s spontaneous decision was, Calum did not want to have it pay for it later by having to stay in this town for the night because they had no idea about bus times or routes.

“Well that was a sudden decision.” Calum said, breaking the minute silence, as a small chuckle escaped him.

“Sudden? Oh no it’s quite the opposite pup.” Drummer boy turned a deep shade of red as soon as the sentence left his lips. All Calum could think about at that moment was how adorable drummer boy looked, scarlet staining his cheeks.

His train of thought which consisted of ‘ _he’s so cute’_ was obstructed when he realised drummer boy had referred to him as _pup._ His mind flew into overdrive all at once. Pup? Pup?!

“ _Pup?!_ ” He squeaked out, avoiding drummer boy’s pretty eyes.

“Ah well I didn’t really know what else to refer to you as in my head and I guess it just slipped out…When you first mentioned that you loved puppies and dogs well I thought you kinda looked like a puppy yourself; fluffy hair, nice eyes and just all around adorable really. Plus we’ve never really told each other our names which is kinda weird now that I think about it.”

Calum smiled somewhat bashfully, feeling elated inside, before tossing his cupcake wrapper into a nearby rubbish bin. “If it makes you any less embarrassed I started calling you drummer boy after you told me you played the drums. Creative aren’t I?”

Drummer boy just grinned, slinging his arm around Calum. “Damn, I should’ve called you bass babe or something then…”

The Kiwi outright laughed, cheeks turning a rosy red. _This_ was the reason why he took the bus so many times. _This_ was the reason why he was near broke. He wished so desperately for something like this to happen and he was so glad it did. He was finally hanging out with drummer boy and it felt downright amazing.

Calum and drummer boy continued to walk around the unknown town, sticking unnecessarily close to each other throughout the whole exploration.

They spoke about a lot of things while they walked. Their ages, dreams, what town they lived in and so much more stuff that Calum had trouble keeping up. He really wanted to remember all the things drummer boy had said.

They were trekking through the park when suddenly a little boy ran straight into Calum. He fell backwards, eyes beginning to well up with tears. Calum was crouching next to the little boy within a second.

“I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

The little boy didn’t say anything, instead he just began to sob and kept his hand hovering above his knee. Calum assumed he must have scraped it in the fall.

“It’s okay, don’t cry. I can do magic and get rid of the pain!” Calum exclaimed as he grinned at the small boy. The little boy glanced up at Calum when the word ‘magic’ was mentioned and his eyes had lit up.

“M-Magic?” He hiccupped, rubbing at his eyes.

“Mhmm. You just have to close your eyes while I do my trick and then you won’t feel any pain at all!” He explained, sneaking a glance at drummer boy who stood a few feet away.

“I wanna see it! Please let me see!”

“Ah I can’t let you, I’m sorry. A true magician never reveals his secrets!” Calum nodded as if reinforcing his point somehow. The little boy said nothing more and instead closed his eyes.

Calum frowned when he saw that the boy’s knee _had_ been scraped and was bleeding a little. How would he fix this? Magic wasn’t real. He couldn’t just stop the bleeding without any supplies.

A moment later drummer boy shuffled next to Calum and proceeded to pull out a small band-aid out of his wallet, handing it over to the black-haired boy.

“I’ve got younger siblings and they’re always getting into trouble so I always keep a few band-aids on me.” He whispered, hoping his voice was low enough so the young boy wouldn’t hear.

Calum could only grin and whisper back a ‘thank you’. Drummer boy was so perfect, it was unreal.

He stuck the band-aid on and mumbled some nonsensical words, loud enough so the boy could hear, and then told him to open his eyes. Brown eyes flew open and the youngest began to grin. “Wow! That’s so cool! How did you do that?! It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

Calum smiled, “Told you it’d work!” He said as he ruffled the younger boy’s brown locks. “Who’s that?” The little boy mumbled as he peered behind Calum.

“Is he your special person? He keeps looking at you like my dad looks at my mum.” The little boy mumbled to Calum, quiet enough so that drummer boy couldn’t hear. Calum’s face immediately coloured itself when he realised who the little boy was referring to, “Oh that’s, uh no…He’s my friend?”

The little boy nodded before poking Calum, “I left my toy near the slide and I don’t want anyone to take it so I need to go! Thank you mister and bye!” And with that the brunette was gone.

“Aw he was so cute.” Drummer boy cooed as he extended his hand out to Calum who took it without a moment’s hesitation.

Calum grinned, “Yeah but not as cute as you…” The words were out of his mouth before he knew it and he just wanted to collapse. He was still holding drummer boy’s hand for crying out loud.

Drummer boy chuckled, “We all know you’re the cutest one here.”

The tips of Calum’s ears were turning pink now. _Great._

He grabbed drummer boy by the wrist and began to retrace their steps back to the bus stop. Somewhere along the way Calum’s hand had slipped from drummer boy’s wrist and fell into gripping his hand instead.

They didn’t let go until they reached the bus stop and needed to pull out their cards.

They stood there waiting for what felt like hours, making small talk once again. Calum had realised that his time with drummer boy was coming to an end and it made him want to hold onto the blonde and never let him go.

He didn’t think he would ever be dreading the moment the bus would arrive but at that moment he was. Ironic, wasn’t it? Lost in thought he didn’t seem to notice the way drummer boy kept staring at him, a look of contemplation on his face.

“My name’s Ashton.”

When he heard the words, Calum felt his heart stop and speed up all at once. Ashton. _Ashton._ He liked, no, _adored_ the sound of it. It suited him. He felt the urge to say his name over and over again. _Ashton._

“I’m Calum.” The Kiwi said hurriedly as he realised he hadn’t given a response yet. Drummer boy-no, _Ashton_ grinned about to say something but paused when the screeching of the bus coming to a halt was heard.

“I’ll tell you inside.” He said seeing the look of confusion on Calum’s face. They quite hurriedly boarded the bus even though there was no rush, scanning their cards on the way in. As soon as they were seated, Calum turned to Ashton prompting him to go on.

“I was thinking…Maybe we should go somewhere again, together, and hang out.” Ashton stumbled over his words a bit but he managed. Calum thought it was the cutest thing ever.

“I’d really like that Ashton. I would. We should probably exchange numbers then ay?” The way his name rolled off Calum’s tongue felt sensational. Saying out loud really was different from saying it in his head. It sounded a thousand times better.

Ashton leaned against him as the bus began pulling away from the curb, “Yeah Calum, we should.” God it felt good to hear his name coming from drummer- _Ashton’s_ lips. Who knew names could evoke such overwhelming feelings?

They pulled out their phones and put their numbers into each other’s contact lists. Calum labelling Ashton as ‘Drummer Boy’ and Ashton labelling Calum as ‘Pup’. The two of them hadn’t even realised what they had done until much later on…

Ashton edged closer to the window, allowing Calum to cuddle up to him instead. He wrapped his arm around the younger boy and smiled softly. This felt perfect, no it didn’t just _feel_ perfect, it _was_ perfect.

Calum decided then and there as he sat basically snuggling with Ashton that this was one of the most amazing days of his life thus far and he desperately wished that this bus ride would never end.

**Author's Note:**

> ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ kik me if you want: shmu.


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